Love Potion No. 9
with Bettina Hubby
2015
We are inviting you to be prepared to participate in a fulfilling and thought-provoking olfactory art project with Love Potion No. 9: a scented event for single people who want to find their person. The event led, also, to a Love Potion No. 9 perfume, which was based on the evening’s interactions.
Although we will make every effort to help you find the love of your life, it could be that he or she lives in Shanghai, or that she or he didn’t fill out a form! We do – however – believe that you will have a fun time, as we have systematically removed as much ‘awkward’ as we could from the experience.
All sexual identities welcomed
Participants can be female, male, cis/trans
Participants must be 25 years old + up
Each participant leaves with a small bottle of scent, created on-site, based on their interactions.
HOW IT WORKS
Each person who arrives at the event is assigned a one-note scent unique to them (based on their profile form), an empty bottle for their personal formula, and a participation form, upon which they will rate their interactions on our extra-special, pretend-patented Romantic and Sexual Potential Scale (RaSPS).
The event starts with introductions, where participants will be randomly assigned interactions with the other attendees, spending a specified time period with one another – and utilize our impromptu ice-breaker questions related to scent during each interaction. After each encounter, everyone will rotate.
The interaction will be rated one through five by each participant – with 1 for ok and 5 for wow! The score will determine the amount of aromatic material in each participant’s personal formula. Thus, more positive interactions will result in a bigger impact on the finished personal formula.
As an example, for every point Ms. Lilac scores to the interaction with Mr. Clove, the emcees will add a drop of clove to Ms Lilac’s personal formula. If Mr. Myrrh assigns 4 points to Mr. Cedar, four drops of cedar will be added to Mr. Myrrh’s formula.
At the end of the introductions, we will host a happy hour with alluring refreshments, group activities, and bonding exercises — all hosted by lovely emcee Bettina Hubby. While the participants hang out, your friends at the IAO will whip up the individual formulas. Each participant will leave with their own bottle of scent, containing an aromatic mixture based entirely on the quantity and perceived quality of their interactions. Envelopes will be handed out at the end of the session to connect personal matches (deemed to be mutual ratings of 4 or 5).
It’s like speed dating, plus the scent, minus the awkward.
COLLABORATORS
Bettina Hubby is a Los Angeles based artist who consistently branches off into roles of curator and project coordinator, utilizing and promoting a diverse community for topical explorations. Hubby’s good-natured and tongue-firmly-in-cheek work includes throwing art infused dinners at contentious construction sites, opening a shop full of rocks and eagles in a disused storefront in Eagle Rock, and re-examining the institution of marriage by staging a curated wedding. http://www.hubbyco.com/
Saskia Wilson-Brown is the founder and director of The Institute for Art and Olfaction, which she started in 2012 as an experimental arts organization devoted to practices that incorporate scent.
Austin Young is a Pop-Culture Architect, photographer and trans media artist. Young has been documenting pop, sub, and trans culture since 1985 through portraiture. Young’s video works play with pop-culture and camp, celebrity, gender and identity. Young is also co-founder of Fallen Fruit, an art collective who use fruit as a common denominator to change the way you think about the world. http://www.austinyoung.com
Steven Rimlinger is a photographer, editor and filmmaker. Steven’s practice is as diverse as his interests. His company – Square Footage – provides high quality media for marketing residential and commercial property. http://www.squareftage.com/
Barbara Hubby is Bettina Hubby’s most consistent collaborator. She has worked with her daughter in countless ways: From knitting dozens of table-top traffic cones to coming up with aphrodisiacal drink recipes.
Special Musical Guests: Tommy Jordan, Harlan Steinberger, Richard (Roof Dog) Barnes and Jelani Felix as NUDO